Anything For You
by miniamelia13
Summary: Originally published as "goodbye changed everything" but I am re-posting it, along with the updates. Arthur's little sister makes a good addition to the team, but what is she hiding? Minor Arthur/Ariadne
1. Chapter 1

Goodbye Changed Everything

Chapter 1: Dirt

A/N:_ Hey guys! Just a little something I was thinking about the other day, and I had to get it down on paper. Hope you enjoy! Read and review please! _

Disclaimer: I only own Inception in my dreams… ;)

_Gone… Gone… Gone…forever. Just like that. Hopeless thoughts filled her mind as she took the dirt in her hand, sobbed an, "I love you," and threw the muddy soil onto the shiny dark casket, and turned into… _

_ …no one._

_ She took a mascara-heavy tissue out of her black dress pocket, taking it up to her eyes again. As the girl dabbed on courageously, just wanting to be able to see, she spotted a man across the grave in his mid-twenties with an all black expensive looking suit on and dark hair slicked back who was taking a handful of the dirt and letting it ceremoniously roll off his fingers and onto the casket. _

_As he looked up, his dry eyes met her painfully wet ones. The man wordlessly walked over to her, and she unabashedly rushed into his arms and sobbed into his chest, clutching a fistful of his shirt in her hand, just to have something to hold._

_It poured._

_ "If you ever need anything, anything at all, I'm here…"_ his words echoed in my head as I carelessly packed random articles of clothing, and, you know, all my earthly belongings, into my duffel bag. I held a slip of paper between my index finger and thumb, running my thumb over the precisely written numbers. Before I could talk myself out of it, I pulled out my phone and dialed the number.

"Hello?" He picked up on the first ring.

"Hey…uh, it's me." I stumbled through my sentence. "Um, I kind of need a place to stay…" I waited for him to say something, but a gap of awkward silence filled the conversation. "Mom and her, uh, fiancé kicked me out…" I blushed into the phone. I was the spitting image of my father: same soft brown hair, same hazel-green eyes. And she couldn't bear to be reminded of him in anyway. She just wanted to start her new life with that replacement whom she called her love.

"I'm in Paris. Do you have money for a flight?"

"Yes."

"Text me the flight information; I'll pick you up." A breath I didn't know I was holding eased out. I beamed into the receiver.

"You're the best. Thank you, Arthur." I heard him smile.

"Love you, too. I'll see you soon."

The line went dead, and I slumped onto my bed. It was good to have my big brother back.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Thrown into this Mess

_A/N: Hey, here's the update: hope you enjoy!_

Disclaimer: I only own Inception in my dreams...

* * *

><p><strong>I have to go to a meeting for work soon after you land and there won't be time to drop you off in-between. Looks like you're getting your first crash course… -Arthur<strong>

The text arrived a split second before the flight attendant came over to ask us to turn off our electronic devices before take off. I glanced it over and two words steadily began to pulse through my head.

Dream Sharing.

Arthur told me about it after father's funeral; his description had been brief and hurried, but it seemed as though he felt that he owed me an explanation after years of not contacting me, or anyone in our family, for that matter. A hushed couple of words slipping out as we made our way to our car after a lovely dinner of catching up and just getting to know each other after years of not speaking.

"_Anything is possible there. You can change the rules of physic and create impossible paradoxes. Things that never could be here are simply normality there. The possibilities… they're never ending. " _ A smile briefly had touched his lips as he mentioned paradoxes… as though a memory had flitted across his mind, one that he had never quite forgotten, and that he was glad to have a chance to relive.

**Cool. See you in a few. ** I texted back quickly, cramming my phone into my pocket and smiling innocently at the stewardess as she walked by. Leaning my chair back, I hoped to catch some z's before we landed in Paris… and to maybe calm the butterflies trilling about in my stomach.

* * *

><p>"Who is this?" Mrs. Browning asked Arthur, gesturing to me, after having been introduced to Ariadne Williams, the architect, Thomas Eames, the forger, and Lucas Simon, the chemist.<p>

"This is my apprentice, Alexandria Emhale." Arthur glided in smoothly. I cringed slightly inside at the use of my entire first name. Alexandria… it just wasn't _me_. I held out my hand to our employer, politely offering a "nice to meet you," and wondering in the back of my mind why my big brother had slurred my middle initial into my last name; he wasn't one to mix up names, or slide syllables together… But he no doubt had a reason. Arthur always had a reason.

"I have a job offer for you…" Mrs. Browning turned to my teammates with an utter sense of formality that only a woman of status could possess. She went on to describe her situation; that she suspected that her husband, Peter Browning, was keeping a secret from her. She was growing old now and was about to go to her lawyer to make her will, but she only wanted to leave her things to the people who had cared for her, from when she was poor till when she became wealthy through marriage and association to Mr. Browning. As she droned on about hr past, I found it rather impossible to pay attention…. Blame it on my being a teenager or whatever, but it was impossible to keep listening. I took the opportunity to take in my surroundings and observe my new coworkers.

The one who had been introduced as Eames had dark brown hair that was slicked back and chocolate-y greenish eyes that focused on Mrs. Browning for a moment, then glanced around the room. He was possible a little more bored than I even was… but you could tell he was still paying attention, but not to what she was saying; more to her mannerisms and her body language. His British accent had an attractive lilt to it when he talked, and a smirk played across his lips as though he knew something that everyone else didn't. His eyes caught mine and a bemused look spread across his rugged features. I smiled at him, then moved my gaze around the room as though he was just a piece of furniture within it.

Ariadne, the architect, had soft brown hair with wavy curls in it. Her eyes were a sparkly hazel, and she appeared to be attentively listening to our employer (who was still rambling about what seemed to be her childhood sob story… I'm sure it was pertinent… somehow), but I saw her steal quick furtive glances at my brother, trying to mask them with the oldest tricks in the book: adjusting her sky blue scarf and fixing her hair, tucking it behind her ear.

The chemist…. Well, that's an entirely different story. Lucas had the most beautiful green eyes I had ever seen in my entire 17 years in my career as a girl. His black hair was cut short, but had grown out a bit and just managed to fall into his eyes. He had a slim physique with subtle muscles, hidden under an olive green button down shirt, sleeves rolled to the elbows, and a white t-shirt underneath. Similarly to my brother, his gaze never fell from Mrs. Browning as she talked, seeming to absorb every detail, as though everything had a meaning. He looked _way_ too young to be in the business, but I suppose you could say that about me, too (except that technically I hadn't been in the business yet, I'd just heard about it). Arthur had told me briefly about the team on the way up. Lucas had taken the place of the old chemist, Yusuf, who had retired permanently from dream sharing on account of on the last job he had done, he had received a particularly large share.

"_How could you ever just… _quit_?" I'd asked Arthur. I was totally confused. He got a kind of far away look in his eyes, and busied himself with changing the radio station, and a Led Zeppelin song played quietly from the speakers; he sighed. _

"_Sometimes… you just… know it's time to stop. Some people need to dream to figure out who they are, and where they need to be. Once you figure out who you are, you just don't need it anymore."_

"_Oh…" I'd added philosophically to the conversation. That'd be my contribution to the conversation. The car fell into a comfortable silence as we both fell into our own thoughts._

…_What if he found out that I hadn't really been kicked out? What if he knew what really happened at home, and that he was just waiting to take me back to mom and _that guy. _What if… What if he never asked? What if he confronted me? What is he knew what really happened... What if he knew what really happened... What if he knew what really happened..._

_A searing thought burned across my subconscious and made its way into my thoughts:_

_He probably already did._

* * *

><p>"<em>I'm so sorry… I'm just… I'm, I'm… so sorry… Sorry… Alex? Alex, I'm sorry…!" She cried the words over and over and over to me. Tears dirtied by make up dripped down her cheeks and onto the pure white sofa, tainting the purity and cleanness of it. She fell into my arms, and I stroked her dyed hair softly. Her heaving sobs shot droplets of pain up my spine and on my ribs, where there were still bruises from last week…<em>

"_It's okay, Mom. I forgive you." I lied, attempting to calm her. She picked herself up off of me , wiping delicately at her tears. Her hand turned black._

"_Really?" I nodded. _

"_Good."_

_She stood up, stumbling drunkenly up the carpeted stairs. And I sat alone on the stained white couch, with black tears on my shirt and a black eye forming on my painfully pale face._

* * *

><p>Alright, there it is! Reviews are love!<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

Anything For You

Chapter 3: Nightmare come true?

_A/N: I'm sorry it's been a while since the update; Fourth of July kept me busy, and I just started this new program for service hours that runs most of the week, and by the time I get home, I am completely and utterly exhausted. So I just had to get this on and I decided to sit down and not touch Facebook till I'd finished. So here it is! Reviews are LOVE!_

**Disclaimer: I only own Inception in my dreams… :)**

* * *

><p>"Alex? Where the hell are you? This is your <em>mother<em> speaking. Even though you might have forgotten about me while you were out gallivanting by yourself, I most certainly have not forgotten about you. I have hired the best private detectives to look for you so I would have adequate time to think of a suitable punishment for you when I find you…"

The call went on for several minutes, and without waiting to hear the rest of the message. I deleted the other six messages she'd left and deposited my expensive phone into the toilet, flushing it twice just for good measure. I washed my hands and hurriedly wiped the water off on my black skinny jeans. I took a moment to check how I looked in the mirror; my highlighter yellow ruffled blouse hung on my frame loosely, hugging my few curves, but was modestly covered by a thin gray sweater. I tucked my hair behind my ear happily, and made my way to the table. It had taken me hours to dream up this outfit, and everything here to be just right… but it was worth it.

"Sorry I took so long." I said, smiling across the table and scooting my chair in just-so. I sighed and fiddled with my ring's crystal clear stone, and twisting the silvery band around my finger until he grabbed my eyes with his.

"No problem." Lucas' smile spread ear to ear, but his sapphire blue eyes smiled even more brilliantly. "Just glad that you made it back—oh, Hello, Mr. Hale. How are you today?" Lucas may have greeted my brother politely, but Arthur just glared at him coldly with his unforgiving-looking eyes for a moment to shut him up before he turned his guiltifying stare to me.

"We're leaving." He said, grabbing me by the elbow and pulling me out of my seat. The other people in the quaint little French café looked at Arthur judgmentally, stopping what they were doing to stare at us until we had left the vicinity. No words were uttered until we were a few blocks down the busy street, that was humming sweetly with business as people made their way in and out of little stores and stopping to talk to street venders who were selling some fresh produce.

"What the hell, Arthur? What are you doing here?" I whispered accusingly. He had no business coming into my dreams. I could dream what I liked, and he shouldn't be coming down here and being a total butt head. I could take care of myself.

He stopped walking for one second to turn and look me directly in the eyes, and mutter two words before he resumed his brisk pace: "Mom called." I could feel my eyes go wide with shock, and I had to shake the stupor off as I realized that Arthur was already more than a few paces ahead of me, and so I jogged to catch up.

"Arthur, I didn't mean for you to find out like this—" I began, feeling more and more guilty, and that was aside from the embarrassment that he had seen my dream about Lucas...

"Yeah, well, then how the hell did you want me to find out?" He took the time to make me feel even more guilty as he ran a hand through his perfect hair and sigh, exasperated. "Alex, how could you do this? You are jeopardizing the whole job. You can't let your feelings get in the way of this; your first job will label you for the rest of your career, or the lack thereof."

The only thing I could think of to say was that you couldn't control who you fall in love with, but I couldn't possibly defend why I was spending all my spare time dreaming about him instead of trying to learn more about extraction, like I was supposed to be doing.

I closed my eyes, attempting a few deep breaths before muttering my sad excuse for an apology. Mental preparation finished, I opened my eyes only to realize I was staring down the barrel of a revolver. My eyes went wide with fear as Arthur cocked it into place.

"Arthur, what… what are you doing? How are… How could you do this?" My voice shook with each breath I took in.

He smiled wickedly, his lips twitching upward into an evil-looking smirk.

"Because I'm not your brother."

I watched in horror as Arthur began to melt away and someone entirely different begin to take his place…

…Bang.

* * *

><p>"AHHHHHHH!" I bolted upright in my bed, clutching at the soft sheets and curling myself into the fetal position, crying. As I clawed at my tears with the covers, the door flew open and a very tired-looking Arthur stood in the doorway, still in his dark button down shirt and tie.<p>

"Alex? What's wrong?" He walked calmly to me and sat down next to me on the bed, trying to make up for his jarring entrance by trying to act subdued now. He gently pulled the covers away, trying to fish me out to find my face so he could look at me. "Alex…?"

Part of me screamed to get away before he shot me point blank in the head. The other part pushed me into his arms and let me cry as my brother held me close, comforting me.

"I didn't mean to, I didn't mean it, Arthur…. Please forgive me, please… Please, I'm so sorry… So sorry…" I sobbed an apology into his chest. He hugged me tighter but said nothing until I had been quiet for a few minutes, sniffling softly into his once clean navy dress shirt.

"What didn't you mean to do? Alex… Alex, look at me." He picked me up and lifted my head till his dry eyes met my painfully wet ones yet again. "What are you sorry for? What did you do?"

Even though I wanted nothing more than to just spill my guts to him, I needed my reassurance, my totem. I flew out of his embrace and off the bed. I landed on my dirty jeans and I fished through the pockets until I found my ring. I pulled it onto my ring finger and breathed a sigh of relief as the stone turned from an opalescent, pearly clear to a purple-blue, getting a strange de-ja-vu feeling like I'd already done this a million times before even though I'd only been using my totem for a couple weeks now.

I lifted my head to find Arthur's eyes. "Promise me you won't say anything until I finish." I met his gaze evenly and without blinking until he nodded his acquiesce. I let a breath out that I didn't know I was holding, and after a moment I began to rummage through my drawers until I found a pair of clean jeans and a white t-shirt, and my favorite black sweatshirt.

"C'mon, we need to go to the warehouse." Arthur made no reply, but I saw him raise his eyebrow slowly in the dark, so I offered a quick explanation.

"We need to use the PASIV."

* * *

><p><em>Hope you enjoyed it! I'll be updating as soon as possible; hopefully within a week. Thank you for reading, Please review!<em>


	4. Chapter 4

Anything for You Chapter 4

_A/N: Hey, sorry it took so long to post… I just haven't gotten many reviews so I didn't think anyone was reading… Plus I kind of had serious writers block and there was a billion things going on in July for me… But here it is now! Hope you like it. And PLEASE review! I really appreciate it!_

* * *

><p>A long, starch white hallway.<p>

Black and white photographs hang on the wall, framed in solid, shiny black plastic. Each illustrates a chapter of a life, a story waiting to be told.

A girl is wearing a floor-length, flowy black dress; a curt formality for the gallery she was in. Dark make-up was painted atop her hazel-green eyes, her lips a forgiving soft pink. Next to her stands a man in his late twenties in an onyx black tuxedo and bow tie. He holds out his hand to her… and I fall back into myself as his words draw me out of my trance.

"Ready?" I take Arthur's hand and we walk to the first black and white photograph…

* * *

><p>"You didn't deserve your father, you spoiled brat… You need to get a grip and grow up." She takes a swig of the bottle, the epitome of lucidity.<p>

"I didn't deserve Dad? You're the one trying to erase him from your memory and replace him with some random imbecile that's half your age! I loved him; like I really, really _loved him_. Something that's impossible for someone so heartless like yourself to comprehend."

Carpet burn suddenly stung my cheek and a thick, sticky crimson began to melt into the cream rug.

"You… ungrateful… little…" She paused her kicking to spit at my face, the saliva landing in my hair, once a soft brown, now mussed with red highlights that I didn't put in myself. "…Bitch."

Arthur's hand tightens protectively around mine, and we weave our way through the house until we find another black and white photograph. A couple sitting on a couch, looking at each other with eyes that were probably supposed to look loving. If by loving you meant conniving, lying, and cruel… then yeah, they looked at each other lovingly.

* * *

><p>"We're going to get married, sweetie." Mom glanced at Alex, that man (and I use that term loosely), was a disgrace to my name. They go the whole nine yards, and he takes her hands and they look at each other with love at each other. Picture perfect. Supposedly.<p>

I throw up in my mouth a little bit.

"Seriously?"

They nod, grinning like idiots.

"Can you just brutally kill me instead; and Dad, too? Perhaps with a knife in our backs?"

* * *

><p>"Where are you going?" My voice is quieter than a whisper as I struggle to make eye contact. "You're going to leave me here? Can't you stay?" My eyes brimmed with tears. How could this happen? The one good thing, the one good person in my life is leaving.<p>

"Don't worry, I'll take care of you, Alex. Even if you don't see me, I'll be watching out for you. I promise."

"Take me with you." I try so hard to hold his gaze evenly, more serious about this than I have ever been about anything ever before.

He wavers… biting his bottom lip, considering my plea…?

"Sorry, Alex; I can't. You can't come where I'm going." My eyes drop, and my hopes and dreams fall even lower.

"'Kay…" I resign, falling into Arthur's arms. "When will I see you?" I whisper into his soft green t-shirt. He wasn't always so buttoned-up.

"Soon." He lied.

* * *

><p>I spot my big brother almost right away; he sticks out in a good way with his pinstripe gray three-piece suit. His hair is slicked back and makes his face look older than his twenty-six years. He has already spotted me by now, his dark brown eagle eyes are trained on me and our surroundings as I approach. It's the way he protects me; he looks out for me. I'm his only sister, after all. He knows me inside and out.<p>

But there's something he doesn't know.

Every reason he thinks I am here for is… well, it's not exactly the truth. Our mom and her pig-headed fiancé kicked me out. Lie. I need a place to stay to hide from her… Truth… sort of… I do need a place to hide, but that's not why.

See, Alex (my mom's fiancé Alex, not me) died mysteriously. And everyone seems to think that I did it, even though the police reports have listed it as an accident. Especially my mom. And I can't exactly say that I had nothing to do with it.

Any other hard-hearted criminal would just kill the liability and move on with their life… but not someone with my connections in the dream-sharing world. Why kill someone you love when you can just fix their opinion? Save a life, save your skin. It's a win-win.

"Alex!" Photograph-version of Arthur calls my name, pulling me out of my thoughts and into his arms.

"I missed you…" I whisper, as real tears begin to form in my eyes.

My plan was in motion.

Someone else sees the memory in an entirely different light. Only I remember what I was thinking. Arthur would just see the events that have unfolded here. The incriminating evidence against my mom, and her fiancé.

A picture is worth a thousand words… just imagine what they would say if they could speak… just imagine if we could read minds… If only…

* * *

><p>A girl in black jeans and a white t-shirt is lying on a beat up lawn chair with an IV in her arm. She sits up and slides it out, swinging her legs over the edge of the chair to face a man in his mid-twenties, who is sitting with his face in his hands, wiping the sleep and weariness from his eyes, the disbelief from his mind.<p>

He slowly looks up to meet the girl's eyes. "Whatever you want me to do… I'm there for you." His brown eyes shine with sincerity.

She smiles. "Thanks…" Arthur gets up and stands awkwardly next to me before I pull him into a hug. "It's good to have my brother back…but I want mom back, too. I want to fix whatever it was that made her hate me. I want her to love me again."

Arthur holds me by the shoulders, and arm's length apart. "We will, Alex. I promise we will. But I need you to promise me that we'll pull off the Browning job first. Even I can't handle two jobs at once… I'll get the rest of the team to help us, and I'll make it all better, okay? I'll fix it. I'll fix her, Alex. We'll do it together." I wipe my tears on his shirt as we embrace.

"Okay." I sniffled a little, taking deep breaths—

The door swung open with a loud creak and Eames strode in with the swagger of someone with a wicked hangover. Arthur and I stepped apart, and headed to our workstations silently.

"Hey!" I tossed away any hint of a tear with a cocky yell, receiving an annoyed look from Eames as his hand flew up to his head, but I turned to Arthur with the rest of my sentence as Eames muttered something about all Hales being the same.

"Arthur… when do I start extracting?"

* * *

><p><em>Hope you liked it; thanks for reading, Review if you liked it, or offer some criticism if you thought I needed some improvement. Thanks!<em>


End file.
